Steam heat and power distributing apparatus



(N0 Model.)

B. F. OSBORNE.

UTING APPARATUS.

STEAM HEAT AND POWER DISTRIB Patented Oct. 17, 1882.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

B. F. OSBORNE.

STEAM HEAT AND POWER DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS.

Patented Oct. 17, 1882.

wire warns A'rENr Erica.

EUGENE njosnonnn, 0F s1. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

STEAIVI HEAT AND POWER DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 266,046, dated October 17, 1882.

ApplicationfiledDecember19,1881. Renewedseptemberl l,1882. (X0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE F. OSBORNE, of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Heatand Power Distributing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and ex act description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to systems of steamdistribution for heat and power purposes in cities and towns, and has for its object to provide means in such systems of steam-distribution as return the water of condensation to the generator and as are extended over territory of greatly unequal elevation, whereby the effect of gravity in the water being returned and due to such unequal elevation may be neutralized and a substantially uniform flow of water and pressure may be maintained in the returnpipes. Theinvention has been made with more direct reference to the system of distribution set forth in Letters Patentofthe United States No. 236,247, granted to me January 4., 1881, and it is for greater clearness herein illustrated in connection with the arrangement of pipes shown in said patent. Said invention may, however, beemployed in connection with other systems.

In the drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of theinclosin'g box containing a steamsupply pipe and a condense-water-return pipe, arranged the latter above the former, as in the aforesaid Letters Patent, with my improvement applied thereto for the purpose of controlling the descent of water in an inclined return-pipe, arrows applied to the pipe indicating the respective directions of the steam and water in the several pipes. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the intersecting mains at the left of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of pipes having my improvement'applied thereto for the purpose of controlling the upward flow of water from a low to a higher point through an inclined pipe. Fig. at is an end elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 3 viewed in the direction of the arrow a in said figure. Fig. 5 is a section of the valve S in Fig. 3.

3y referring to my abovemen tioned Letters Patent it will be seen that the steam-supply and condense-water-return pipes of the distribution system therein described are arranged in proximity with each other throughout their extent beneath the ground surface, that the water-return pipe is located immediately over the steam-supply pipe, and that the former discharges into a receiving-tank at the boiler house or station. It will also be observed that means are provided therein for maintaining a certain sufiicient difference in pressure between the steam-supply and the condense-waterreturn pipes to insure a proper circulation throughout the entire distribution system. Moderate differences in elevation of difl'erent parts or sections of the distribution-pipes will not prevent this effect; but considerable differences may in some situations do so. Thus in the case of a section of the distribution system higher than the receiving-tank the pressure in the return-pipes of said section will be less than thatin the tank ormain by the amount of gravity due to a water-column in height equal to the difference in elevation, while in the case of a section lower than the tank or main the pressure in the return will be greater than that in the main return-pipe or in the receivingta-nk by the amount of gravity due to a water-column ofheight equal to the difierence in elevation. When this difference is slight no material disadvantage is suffered by reason thereof; but when the difference is considerable it will operate to produce objectionable inequalities in the pressure and flow of water in the return-pipe. For the prevention of these objectionable effects the present invention is made; and to this end it consists in the several features of construction and operation hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, A may represent the steam-supply main, and B the condensewater-return main of a circulating steam-distribution system. A and B represent lateral or branch steam-suppl y and water-return pipes connected with the mains A and B, and leading respectively to and from a section of the city or town considerably higher than the mains A and B.

A and B represent lateral or branch pipes connected with the mains, and leading respect- .ively to and from a point or territory materially lower than the mains.

D D are double-chambered couplings uniting the mains and branches, the upper chamber furnishing the connection for the pipes B, B, and B and the lower chamber similarly affording connection for the steam-pipes A, A, and A The interior construction of said couplings is not shown herein, but for the purposes of this description is suflicientl y described by saying that a horizontal diaphragm or partition separates the water-passage from the steam-passage through the same.

For thepurposes ofthisdescription the mains A and B, at the point where they are shown in section at the left in Fig. 1, may be understood as being substantially at the level of the receiving-tank at the boiler-station, and the pipe B as being therefore under normal pressure, To first consider the case of the pipe B, Fig. 1, wherein the water descends from a con siderably-elevated point or district to the main return B: It is plain that unless means are employed to restrain or control the descent of the water in said pipe B the more elevated portion of thercturn-pipe may be drained and filled with steam and the pressure in the main B augmented by an amount equal to the gravity due to the vertical height of the column in the inclined pipe B. This dittieulty is obviated by means of an automatic pressure-regulator valve, E, located in the pipe B near its juncture with the main. The valves 0 are connected by their stem with the piston 0, exposed on the lower side to the pressure in the branch B above the valve, and on the upper side to the pressurein the main B, augmented by the force of the adjustable spring 0". The spring a is set to resist the gravity of a watercolumn of height equal to the-greater elevation .of the returnpipe discharging through B.

The movement of water through the valve E will therefore be governed by the variation of water-pressure on opposite sides of the piston e, and will obviously proceed regularly and wholly as in the case of sections of the returnpipe on the same level.

In the case of a section located materially below the level of the mains A and B the gravity of the water will have the opposite effect from that above stated, or, in other words, will tend to drain the main return B into the lower branch return, B and will augment the pressure in such branch. For the purpose of equalizing the pressure and flow between said branch and the main B in this case an automatic steam-pumpis employed, being located at a low point, but not at the extremity, and usually not at the lowest point of the branch B and actuated by the steam taken from the adjacent steam-supply pipe A Adequate de vices for this purpose are shown in Figs. 3 and 4, in which Sis a direct-acting steam-pump, having its steam'cylinder S connected with the steam-supply pipe A and its watereylinder IV with the return-pipe B In order to obtain a working steam-head, a dillerential reducing'valve, E, is inserted in the steam-pipe B above or on the high-pressure side of which the pipe s leads from the steam-chamber of the coupling D to the valve chamber S of the engine steam-cylinder, and below or on the low-pressure side of which the exhaust s from said cylinder connects. The pipe 8 has, in addition to the main valve S, an automatic pressure regulator valve, 5*, (shown in section in Fig. 5,) having its piston s exposed on its lower face to the steam-pressure, and its upper face exposed to the pressure of water from the water-chamber of the coupling D. The valves 3 are arranged to open by excess of pressure on the upper face of the valve,where the expanding-spring s is located, to augment the pressure of the water. On the side toward the ascending return-pipe B this pipe is cut off from the coupling D by a cap or plug, I, as shown, or by a stop-valve. The water-cylinder \V of the pump takes its supply through the pipe 10, connected into the water-chamber of the coupling 1), and discharges into the pipe B by the pipe to, connected with said. pipe above or beyond the point of severance, as shown. The entire body of condense-water will therefore be passed through the pump-cylinder \V. The relative diameters of the steam and water cylinders are determined with reference to the elevation to which the water is to be raised against the pressure in the main return B, and with reference to the steam-head available and provided by the differential valve E. The valve S is adjusted to open when the pressure in the water-chamber of the coupling D is above normal, and to thereby operate the pump for the delivery of the water against the pressure from the elevation, as stated.

If preferred, a rotary engine and pump may be arranged directly in the respective pipes A and B the. propelling mechanism in the steam-pipe and the pump in the water-pipe both being connected by the same shaft and controlled by a suitable valve.

The same means here shown may of course be applied to the mains themselves when the same extend to sections of a city of unequal elevation.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a circulating steam-supply system returning the water of condensation to the generator and extending to districts of unequal elevation, the combination, with the condensewater-return pipe, of automatic mechanism, substantially as described, for controlling the flow of water therein in opposition to the force of gravity due to the difference in elevation, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a pipe giving descent to the water of condensation in a steamsnpplycirculation,thepressure-regulator valve E, arranged in said pipe near the point of non mal pressure, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In combination with a condense-waterreturn pipe giving ascent to the water of condensation in a steam-supply circuh'ttion, and with an adjacent steam-su 'iply pipe, a pump automatically operated bysteam from said supply and connected to force the water upward connected to receive from the return-pipe be in the return-pipe, substantially as set forth. low and to deliver into the same above its 4. In combination with the steam-supply point of disconnection, substantially as de- 15- pipe having a reducing-valve, E, and the adscribed, and for the purposes set forth. 5 jacent condense-water-return pipe, disconnect- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as ed at P at a low point thereof, esteem-pump, my invention I affix my signature in presence S, havingits steam-supply 8, provided with an of two witnesses. automatic valve, S connected to open by the pressure of water it; the return-pipe below the EUGENE OSBORNE IO point of disconnection, and its steam-exhaust Witnesses:

connected into the steam-supply pipe beyond M. E. DAYTON, the valve E, and having its water-cylinder W. 0. ADAMS. 

